Talons

Chapter 74: The Broken

Raven’s POV

Gigi started to slip again, so I had to spend a week with the pack. I went to work as normal, but at the end of the day I drove back to Claw. I told Tucker that my twin was having a difficult time being pregnant and I wanted to be near her for a while, not a complete lie. 

He usually doesn’t like it when I stay out of the house, but he was okay with it this time. He told me that I should take as long as I needed, and I planned to do just that.

However, eight days into what was meant to be a two week stay, Gigi started to miss Tucker so badly that she begged me to go back home. I made sure to look my best because I knew that Gigi wanted something physical.

Since I have started taking birth control, my s*x drive has been crazy, and while I’m not certain the pill is bad for me, I told myself that if my hormones don’t regulate on their own, I will have to see a pack doctor about it. 

I stand in front of the apartment door, and I can smell that there is someone other than Tucker inside, so I sneak in, wanting to see who it is without being noticed. 

As soon as I open the door, the overwhelming scent of s*x hits me, and my heart starts to spasm in pain; Tucker is cheating on me.

I start shaking as I make my way in front of B’s room, where I hear my boyfriend moaning loudly. I push open the door, and he scrambles to his feet, shocked to see me.

My eyes drift to the girl in bed and I recognize her from work, but that isn't even the worst part. She is wearing a pair of B’s old glasses and one of the sweaters she left behind when she moved.

“Get out,” I whisper. Gigi has gone dormant, and I can’t even react the way I want, which is a good thing, since Tucker would be dead.

“Ray, I can explain.” Tucker approaches me, but I back away. It suddenly occurs to me that I was not insecure. My boyfriend has been lusting over my little sister, probably since the day he moved in with us. “There is nothing to explain,” I say. “It's pretty self-explanatory.” The girl in bed shakily gets up and I leave the room to pack a bag. I don’t want to stay in a place that reeks of someone else’s s*x with the man I love.

“Raven, let's talk about this. We have both made mistakes. Don’t pretend you haven’t stepped out on me.” I look at Tucker incredulously. “Who is Jacques?” he questions, and I laugh maniacally. Tucker is still naked, and the absence of a condom makes my stomach churn.

“Tucker, I’ve never cheated on you. Jack is nobody, and if you had trusted me, you would have known that.”

“Nobody who texts you at all times of night?” Laughing, I unlock my phone, open the messages with Jack and toss it at Tucker. He reads the thread, which is mostly me talking to Jack about music, and my ‘perfect’ boyfriend.

I wasn’t joking when I said that Jack is just a person I enjoy talking to. While he is attractive, he meant nothing compared to Tucker, who I had seriously considered going to the UK to reject Dolton for.

“Ray, sweety. I’m so sorry. Please, let’s start over.” I look at Tucker and don’t even bother to hide the disgust I feel toward him.

“You know, I loved you enough to have considered forgiving you if your toy hadn’t been dolled up like my little sister. Clearly I’m not who you really want.” With enough of my things shoved in a bag, I start to leave. “You have seventy-two hours to get out.”

Tucker chases behind me while crying, but I don’t care. My heart is shattered to pieces, and I can’t even feel the pain the way I want to because the guilt of choosing that man over Baby B is eating me up.

Rhea’s POV

I took a taxi from the airport and straight to my sister's apartment. I knock at the door, not wanting to just open it. After a while, I try my key, which does not work, so I call her, and she comes to unlock the door. I look around the apartment and see that it’s destroyed. 

There is damage to even the walls, but I never get to ask my sister what happened because she disappears into her room before I can. I follow her, and I'm shocked to see she is sleeping on the bare floor. Her bed frame and mattress have been demolished and pushed up into a corner; all she has is a thin sheet.

I don’t have to question her because I catch a glimpse of the closet and see that all Tucker’s things are gone. I curl up next to my sister and hug her tightly. I know how much she loved her human, and whatever happened between them has broken her.

“What do you want to do?” I ask. Knowing that my sister is the type to get even, but she shakes her head. 

“I just want to forget about him,” she says, and I rest my head on her shoulder so that I can look at her face. “He was cheating on me B; he was cheating and I caught him. She was-” Raven breaks down crying and I gently wipe at her tears. “I gave him three days to get out, and when I came back this is what I found.” Rage overtakes me and a sinister plan starts to hatch in my mind, but Sylvia tells me it's going too far. “Have you ever been betrayed?” she suddenly asks, and I nod.

“It’s already too much work to have a r*tarded sister. I don’t know why mom is allowing her to go to school with us. She is going to be such an embarrassment. We’ll get rejected because of her.” I repeat the words I heard coming from her mouth back when I was ten, and Raven looks at me in shock, horror, and sadness.

“You heard that?” She whimpers, and I nod. My sister turns to face me, and I lay down so that she and I are eye to eye. “I’m the only embarrassment between us,” she says. I remain silent because I know that what my sister needs right now is support. I have felt what she’s feeling, and I know the sting of it.

When she has fallen asleep, I get up and close the door behind me. I decide to clean up the mess Tucker made to give Raven a fresh start. I walk into my old room, and see that it is mostly untouched, save for the message written on my fish tank.

I go to read it, and my face goes sour when I see that ‘I loved you both’ is written on the glass in marker. Something is telling me that ‘both’ is not a pet name for Raven.

I feed the fish, surprised they are still alive, and then I start making calls.

Having money has its benefits, and I’m able to get a crew out within the hour. They removed the broken and damaged furniture, repaired the walls and the housekeepers I hired came immediately after. 

Quickly and quietly, we got the apartment in almost perfect order before Raven, who was in a hibernation-like sleep, woke up, and when she did, I had already cooked her favorite meal. 

“Did you do all this?” she asks, shocked by the state of the apartment.

“I had help,” I reply, and my sister sits on the floor where I have our dinner laid out.

“Why are there three plates?”

“A good friend of mine is coming. Be nice to her, okay?” Raven nods and I start serving. The front door knocks, and I run to get it, but my sister stops me. “She is like us,” I admit, and Raven nods, realizing that I have invited another wolf over.

I asked Jamie to come because she and Raven are similar, and I think my sister needs someone nonjudgmental to go out and let off steam with. As soon as Jamie sees me, she shouts, pulling me into a hug before pulling away and lifting my shirt. 

I swat at her hands and Raven laughs from behind us, making Jamie look up at her wearing a weird expression. She starts demanding to see my body, and after a while Raven also chimes in, looking at me as though she is seeing me for the first time today.

“Help me strip her,” Raven says, and I’m shocked when Jamie agrees. The idiots literally start pulling at my clothes as I run away from them. The sound of laughter is thick in the apartment, and while I don’t appreciate what they are doing, I know it is all in good fun.

“Okay, okay,” I say. My sides hurt from laughing and unless I get serious, they can overpower me. 

I remove my shirt and both girls look at each other in shock. Jamie is the first to speak, asking me if any of the guys I tutor have seen me, which they have not. Raven asks Jamie why it matters, clearly confused, and my big mouth roommate tells her about the Mike and Ashley situation.

“Traitor,” I tease, and Jamie sticks her tongue out at me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Raven asks, and I shrug. “He’ll regret his actions now.” I scoff and Jamie chimes in, telling my sister that she has the perfect outfit for me to wear. I shudder at the thought, and I remind the girls that dinner is getting cold.

We finally sit down to eat and just like I expected, Jamie and Raven hit it off well. She has my sister laughing so much that I would never have thought she was a mess just a few hours before. I’m sure it helps that the apartment no longer looks like a warzone.

Suddenly, the conversation shifts to me and Mike again, and I find myself growing worried. I don’t know if I like the Raven-Jamie combo. 

Jamie has somehow gotten word to her father that I can start tutoring the guys from tomorrow, and she and Raven are now going through my luggage for something that can be made to look ‘casually sexy.’

“What is the purpose of this? I don’t want him back.” Raven and Jamie start laughing, and now I feel left out.

“B sweety, it’s revenge.”